This invention relates to air cooling equipment for cooling containers stacked in ships' holds comprising an upright column attached to a bulkhead or some other part of the ship's structure and provided with connections adapted to cooperate with corresponding connections provided on the containers in the stack for the supply of cold air and the withdrawal of exhaust air.
Fixed air cooling equipment of this kind for ships is already known. It serves to blow cold air into containers stacked in the ship's holds. When the cooling containers have been loaded, flexible couplings are used to establish airtight connections between the containers and the air cooling equipment. These couplings are held in position by air pressure and they are released from the container by exhausting the air. Alternatively they may be pressed against the containers by spring means and released from the container by opening a lock by compressed air. For this purpose each connection needs two air supply pipes. The high speed techniques at container terminals for unloading containers frequently result in couplings being torn because they had inadvertently not been released in time before the containers were lifted out. Lack of time prevents suitable checks being made since the couplings are all remote controlled. Remote monitoring is expensive and in the rough conditions obtaining at container terminals such systems would be most vulnerable. The couplings themselves are expensive both to provide and install. Defective couplings which do not satisfactorily seal cause perishable cargoes in the containers to spoil.